Hello everybody and welcome to Fusion collaboration final mix.Before getting to your comments I would like to thank you all for participating and submitting your takes on time. I think it is safe to say that most of you had a go at soloing over fusion type harmony for very first time! I took that into consideration before making final comments but in general there is a lot areas we need to work on in future and explore if you want to take your playing to next level. Having said that, from next collaboration things will change a bit as we will focus on very specific things when improvising or composing a solo. I will explain all this when time is right , for time being enjoy the final mix and comments !

Pedja

Number of participants 25

First up is Ajmurrell (0:00 - 0:30)

Sound - Very good sound, fits the backing as well as your style of playing. All the notes come out clean which is very important as well.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Your phrasing sounds fairly strong trough out the solo. The reason why this works is because you applied a lot of rests as well as short vs long rhythms (double vs regular time feel). I would like to hear solo from you with constant type playing , with fever rests as comparison for your trough composed playing.

Development/melodic shapes - Great job with developing the solo using Question answer phrasing + rests. Melodic shapes are mostly straight and predictable - melody goes up , melody comes down , scale motion . Practice with different melodic shapes soloing and see what that can do to your soloing and composing skills.

Technique - Everything you needed in this solo you covered technically. Good job.

Outro/ending - Very good ending . Sounds like intro a bit and you managed to pull it off with that rest you used just before playing the phrase.

Overall I am very happy with your solo Adam. Question and Answer phrasing with Rests was applied trough out solo which made everything click together. I would advise you to work on your melodic shapes more in future as well as bending to some extent. In future I would like to hear trough composed playing from you as you seem to have solid control over applying rests in solos.

Thank you for your take Adam!

audiopaal (0:30 - 0:57)

Sound - Very good sound just like Adam's take. Great job !

Intro - I love it. You took one motive and created different endings for it. You also took your time and developed your ideas. It shows the professional approach in your playing. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Very good job. Your phrasing was strong and solid as you were using Repetition and various endings to your motives. Time feel was also there as you had both slow and fast rhythms combined along with straight vs syncopated rhythm. Excellent work.

Development/melodic shapes - Excellent work. Repetition + various endings of motives = very strong development. Melodic shapes were also good but I suggest you practice mixed melodic shapes when soloing (just like in Adam's case).

Technique - Good job with technique. Nothing to technical but it served the purpose of your solo as it was meant to be melodic with hooks in it.

Overall this was excellent solo Paal. I really liked repetition and development you had trough out the solo. Your phrasing was also very strong trough out the solo. There is one thing however that made solo not so perfect In couple of different sections you used some out of scale and avoid notes. Avoid note being note thats not strong chord tone (like playing 4th over Major chord etc). So thats one area I would advise you to pay more attention in future. Another thing is working on melodic shapes , but I will go over that in future collaborations as most people have this problem.

Thank you for your take Paal !

Berko (0:58 - 1:25)

Sound - Nice distorted sound with maybe a touch too much gain. But I like it how it fits the backing good job !

Intro - I really liked the ideas you had in the intro. One problem I had with it is very first note was flat bend (a bit out of tune). I think that messed up a bit great phrase you had going there - wonderful note choice by the way !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Very strong phrasing trough out the solo. Good job. Time feel is also there along with good choice of strong rhythm figures.

Development/melodic shapes - Development is definitely happening. It sounds like you composed this solo to me as there are couple of different guitar takes in it Melodic shapes same as for everybody mentioned - we will work on it soon.

Technique - I like what you applied in the solo from technical point of view. I have only one problem and thats unwanted string noise when shifting strings. Listen to your take without backing track and you will see what I mean there

Outro/ending - Two things about ending. It sounds strong and fits the backing , but another thing is it sounds a bit unrelated to previous phrase (not connected). It does however sound strong as section by itself so good job with that!

Overall I really liked some melodic ideas you displayed in this solo Berko. Phrasing was also connecting your semi aggressive solo approach, technique worked well (except unwanted string noise) and there is couple of out notes that you used that ended sounding strong because of phrasing. Work on more rests in solos and more chromatic approaches to your playing.

Thank you for your take Berko !

big harry (1:25 – 1:53)

Sound – The notes come out clean but It sounds like it has lots of distortion there. I would take it down a bit, to give more sustain and clarity for notes to ring out.

Intro - I like your intro as it has repetition and different endings. However some notes don’t come out as strong as they should , so you should work on that in future .

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Good job with all of these. There were couple places where you were falling behind the beat , but overall it was fairly strong playing.

Development/melodic shapes – Definitely happening, I am very pleased with this area.

Technique – Trough most of the solo sound good , however in couple of sections it sounds like you are missing some notes. I suggest you work on alternate and economy picking a bit more – that should do the work!

Outro/ending – Good note choice but lack of technique made you slow down in phrasing hence it didn’t come out 100% strong.

Overall since this is your first ever collaboration and recording, I must say I am very pleased with your effort. You have been member at GMC for short period of time and managed to show me that you are real hard worker. All the lessons you posted and other videos show your improvement on immediate basis, and I must say I am very happy because of that. Keep up the improvement and work on things I mentioned if possible ! Thank you for your take Harry!

Caelumamittendum (1:53 – 2:21)

Sound – This is your signature sounds , I hear it everywhere so I won’t take it away from you

Intro – I like how you used development and 2nd ending of motive you started with. Great work .

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – This was both great and not so good and here is why… Unlike most other guys, you actually used some OFF BEAT rhythms and syncopated phrases trough out the solo. You did something that’s called playing behind the beat. You were hardly on click but always behind with syncopated rhythms. That was all great stuff man I enjoyed it , but here is the problem part… If you do it a lot (like you over used it), it starts to sound like you have lack of compass in other words where the click is, so your phrasing and melodies start to sound very odd whatever you play. Solution is simple – keep what you were doing but next time combine more strong down beat type (straight) rhythms and you will have great arsenal of phrasing ideas you can use !

Development/melodic shapes – Melodic shapes are good , development could be even better , but that has to do with phrasing I mentioned earlier. More question and answer type of phrasing recommended !

Technique – Overall good work.

Outro/ending – You ended of root which is always good but I would have preferred stronger rhythmic phrase for the ending .

Overall this solo was great example of how you are exploring and discovering new things In your playing. I am very happy with how you took syncopated rhythm trough whole solo but for next time try to balance it out more and work on question and answer phrasing a bit more.

Thank you for your take Ben !

Coffeeman ( 2:22- 2:49)

Sound – Excellent distortion, I really like how all notes come out clear with it! Intro – I love this intro. Excellent development with 2nd ending happening one octave higher than first one. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Very good job with all of these. Your phrasing was strong, choice of rhythms was mostly downbeat but there syncopated rhythms as well. Time feel was not 100% obvious but it did happen from first phrase all the way to the last.

Development/melodic shapes – Very strong development and solid melodic shapes. Great job.

Technique – I loved what you did over G#dim7 part, really creative work! Outro/ending – Excellent job with ending. Sounds like very first melodic idea in the intro. Very strong finish to a very good solo.

Overall this solo has a very solid structure and content in it. Phrasing is strong, sound really sticks out and ideas with it, and everything seems to be in perfect order. One question, did you compose or improvise solo ? Just curios that’s all Work more on syncopated phrasing and obvious time feel change , other than that you did awesome man.

Intro – Very strong intro even though I said you should record after click you started on pre bar.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Its evident that your solos sound strong because you have developed strong question and answer type of phrasing. Most of the times you are using simple melodic shapes as call and response (high vs low or low vs high). Time feel change happens over G# dim7 chord where you do double time feel which is good (but I will talk about note choice latter as well as other advices).

Development/melodic shapes – As mentioned above, development happens as you are using Q & A type of phrasing. Melodic shapes could be expanded to broken shapes or interrupted.

Technique – For 27 second long solo very good use of techniques. Legato was your strongest point in the solo.

Outro/ending – Strong ending again thanks to Q & A type phrasing

Overall David this was very well executed solo. Your strongest point in playing is question and answer type phrasing that gets you by to play pretty much anything (which is great). There is couple of things I do suggest you use as you are Instructor and I have to be even more direct and exact with advices in this style of music! One area is melodic shapes. I think you should take 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 note melodic shapes and isolate them and practice improvising with them. I will talk about examples of these shapes in next collaboration but I think you know where I am going with this …Second thing is your melodic choice. In this solo you did use some chromatic approach, but for Fusion style to really work you have to apply Superimposing. So that being said, I would like to hear more E minor, G major, D major, B minor etc type of arpeggios over A minor instead of just regular A minor sound. Having said that I think you need to isolate specific arpeggios and practice improvising with them over basic one chord to get that outside sound. Once you have A minor sound from all different mode options (dorian, Phrygian , aeolion and all harmonic and melodic minor type modes) then its time to add some Tension to those arpeggios with dominant type chord resolutions. I will talk about all this in future collaborations also. Third and last thing I would mention is phrasing… I don’t know what your intent is when you play solos but I hear a lot of similar lessons and solos from you phrasing wise. My advice for Fusion type of music is to listen to as much as possible PIANO and SAX players in that genre. They are the ones that really have complete control with over the bar phrasing etc. So my advice is basically if you want to be really good at this style, lay off some guitar music for a while and spend more time on Chick Correa, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Brandford Marsalis, Joe Calderazo etc and transcribe Q & A rhythms they use and create your own melodic ideas with it.I hope you take all this with open heart and ears man. Thank you for your take David and for participating. I hope to see you in future Fusion collabs again!

Deleted (3:17 – 3:45)

Sound – Clean sound but it’s a bit dry for my taste. You could have added some lower EQ to it to boost it and make it warmer.

Techniques – No faults as it was fairly slow and build up type solo. Good job.

Outro/ending – I like how you used Bb as A Phrygian mode for ending the piece. Great !

Overall I am very pleased with Q&A type phrasing in this solo. Sound could be a bit warmer , perhaps even a different pickup would have worked. Time feel need some work if you plan to use different types of climax in your solos. Off beat phrasing needs work if you plan to have more rhythmic variety in your solos. Everything was well constructed and played , keep these advices as means to improve more like with everybody !

Overall I am really surprised with your take Dexxter as I never heard you play before and this is your first recording in my collaboration. You definitely nailed the backing track and it didn’t show like you had any difficulty with it. Your phrasing was spot on along with melodic choice , Q&A phrasing was there… Basically you made music with all the devices you had at your disposal. My only recommendation is to practice superimposing and chromatic approaches if you are looking to improve your overall playing in Fusion genre.

Thank you for your take Dexxter !

enforcer (4:13 – 4:40)

Sound – I picked your 2nd take as the sound of this one fits great with backing track , and your ideas are awesome in this one.

Intro – Strong intro with Q & A type phrasing. I like how you used different endings – you did that in previous collaborations as well!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Trough most part of solo this is working excellent. I noticed you seem to have trouble with faster runs where you always “swallow “ a note here and there. The assignment for you is more regular vs double time feel solo. So you basically play a bar of regular time feel (half notes for example) and then next bar (or next two bars) you do double time rhythm (constant 16th notes, triplets or anything that sounds totally opposite and like answer to your regular time feel !).

Development/melodic shapes – Development is definitely there, I like how you are approaching your solos they definitely tell a story. Unlike 99% of participants, your melodic shapes actually have a lot of variety, that’s awesome and keep up good work and imagination happening.

Techniques – You use lots of different techniques but I have to emphasize that your notes don’t always ring out or as I like to say sing out. The reason for this is you lift your left hand finger from fret millisecond before you need to hence the cut off sound. This is especially noticeable in low region and bottom strings. Work on regular vs double time feel soloing with metronome and/or backing track and you will nail this man !

Outro/ending – Interesting ending, I like it to some extent although I think you could have went with some slower rhythm to bring it down – but this ending works just as good. Great job. Can, I know have firm understanding of what your playing strengths and flaws are about hence all the specific advices I gave you. Your phrasing and melodic shapes along with development are just great man. Your sense for melody is also very strong. My only concern is technical side of your playing, staccato and cut off that you do to notes. Work on that with metronome and/or backing track with as many as different rhythms and exercises possible. Record it (audio and/or video) post it somewhere on forum , I will be more than happy to check it out and tell you how you are doing with that. Overall this was very melodic solo had great structure and development but lacked some technical aspect in it.

Thank you for your take enforcer (Can) !

Howermike (4:42 – 5:09)

Sound – Good distortion, all notes come out . Good job !

Intro – Very strong and specific melodic phrase. I like it, great work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Trough most of solo its fairly strong phrasing except when you are playing faster passages (legato , 16th note runs, broken rhythms etc) , then you tend to fall behind the beat.

Techniques – Your melodic playing is great but your lack of legato technique is sacrificing the melody. I think you need to work more with metronome and/or backing tracks, and just play legato and build it up from slower to faster tempos.

Outro/ending – Ending is cool , sounds like mine haha, just kidding. You did great job on ending it strong , good work !

I am very happy with this solo Mike. You used some exotic scales (like Can did) and your development is just natural – your solos tell me a story and I like that about them. One thing that I noticed in this and previous collab is that you need to work more on your legato to make your style complete. It is obvious to me that you love playing legato (you did It in previous collab as well : ) and practicing it more with “click” will definitely make your playing stronger. I look forward to your future takes in collabs Mike.

Thanks you for your take howermike (Mike) !

Ivan Milenkovic ( 5:09 – 5:37)

Sound – Very good sound, fits backing track well!

Intro – BB King type opening always works as you can play anything after slide down from root. Excellent choice.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I have to say that time feel change is definitely there and rhythm with phrasing. I will comment more of this later.

Development/melodic shapes – This was the weakest part of the solo, development. Sounded like you were just running licks up and down the neck, so there was definite lack of Q & A type phrasing, repetition and rests !

Techniques – Legato was your predominant technique and you used it very well trough most of the solo except couple of spots where the phrasing drops (middle and ending). Also your vibrato at the beginning is a bit shaky but that’s your style I won’t try to change that in any way !

Outro/ending – You did end on the root but everything that lead to that actual resting point didn’t make it sound distinguished and recognizable as ending.

Overall I think your sound and legato was your strongest point in this solo. I also enjoyed what you did over C minor part, that was really nice superimposing melodically speaking. The ending part however (F/G, G#dim7 A min) was not pleasing. There were out (wrong avoid) notes over the chords but that was not biggest problem I had… The thing that bothered me there was no development in the solo ; no repetition, no Q&A type of phrasing , nothing that listener can hold on to. When you repeated idea ( in the ending section) it sounded bad as you were playing wrong notes . I recommend when doing new unknown chord progressions to break them up in the little sections and work one section at the time, before trying to tackle whole piece at once. So overall I think you could have done better job over this backing Ivan as you are one of the Instructors at GMC that students really look up to – so I expect you to hold that high standard when doing collaborations as well.I hope you take all these advices with open ear and heart. Thank you for submitting your take Ivan, I look forward having you in future collaborations!

JamesT (5:37- 6:15)

Sound – Distorted, fits the backing track, notes come out. I would perhaps add some more depth with it either in EQ’s or effects. Good job!

Intro – Very good intro, slide into a long note followed by another long one. Typical development trick used in all styles. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I really like your phrasing and rhythmic ideas. Your time feel was noticeable in legato and from straight intro which I will talk about later. Your broken rhythmic figures over F#min part were perfect and very fresh compared to all other takes. Excellent work !

Development/melodic shapes – Your solo was telling me story, I like that about it. There was intro development and ending very specific as well as climax points both low and high. Excellent work.

Techniques – This area is your weakest in this solo. There were some unwanted noises when you were shifting strings , so I suggest working more on muting. Lot of people work on right hand muting but overlook importance of left hand muting. I think you need to work on left hand muting more when you are changing strings. Also your legato tends to drop your phrasing and you play a bit behind the beat (not too much tough !). So I suggest your practice more your legato techniques as you have very good melodic ideas that will come out even better with stronger technique !

Outro/ending – Excellent idea for ending! You started with slow rhythm (half time feel) and even ended with that same idea! Great work!

Overall James I really liked your melodic ideas and development trough out this solo. If I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong please), but you were composing this solo is that right? Either way it sounds very melodic and strong. I have to emphasize legato as technical practice as well as left hand muting. You handled very well dim7 part but still in future more needs to happen over this – we will talk about it in next collaboration! Thank you for your take JamesT !

lcssd (6:05 – 6:33)

Sound – A bit too distorted for this tape of backing track. With 10 to 20 % less gain it would fit much better. Also this much distortion prevents you from hearing all the notes clearly especially in the lower register of Guitar.

Intro – Very good intro. You applied technique that couple of guys applied. Long single note followed by response in some other range of instrument. Great work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Your phrasing started a bit weak but then as you went on it became stronger. Towards the end where you had legato part it got weaker again. Time feel is there trough the solo, great work and rhythm choice worked really well with your melodic choice!

Development/melodic shapes – Development happens trough whole solo although you have very little rests but make it up with some Q & A phrasing. Melodic shapes are very good, not just up and down but broken as well.

Techniques – This was from technical stand point toughest solo to play (if I had to transcribe it and play it now). But having said that, your technique is not flawless just yet ; ) You need to get every single note clear when you play fast and technical type of music. Otherwise, sloppy playing comes out more than anything! In your case legato and left hand muting (listen to your take without backing you will hear what I mean).

Outro/ending – Very nice ending with double bends characteristic for rock style of music. Great job.

I know this is your 2nd collaboration ever and less than a month ago you didn’t know how to record, so I must state that I am very happy to have you in this collaboration! I am sure all future collaborations will clean up your sound even more when recording and your composing skills will keep getting stronger every time. I think you are great technical player and you have a good sense for melody, I just feel you need more Q &A type phrasing, rests , or use sequences broken up rhythms and things like that to spice up your playing ! Overall I am happy with take but there were some really nice and weird OUT choices – especially over G# dim7 part !

Thank you for your take lcdds (Monte) and I look forward hearing you in future collaborations!

Paiva (6:33-7:01)

Sound – Distorted with all the notes coming out , but it’s a bit in the background ! Sounds like you used a lot of Noise Gate or that was amp cabinet you used. Overall you can make it come out more over the top with EQ adjustment and different gain boost.

Intro – Very nice melodic idea with Q&A type melodies. One problem occurs, and that’s from technical stand point not all the notes come out clear and have strong phrasing. I will talk about it later…

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing mostly sounds very strong, there are however couple of spots in your solo where your phrasing was rushed. Time feel and rhythm was applied very well trough whole solo. Great job!

Development/melodic shapes – Very good work with development. You applied rests, different endings, various melodic shapes. On top of everything solo sounded musical and was telling me a story. Excellent !

Techniques – This is the area where I would spend the most time for you Paiva. Legato is a bit soft and not all notes ring out well when you try to play faster passages. So I would definitely work with metronome and/or backing tracks to fix that.

Outro/ending – I like the open string ideas that lead to the actual ending. That was excellent work!

Overall I really like your creativity in this solo Paiva. You told me you composed it and it really shows as it is definitely telling story to listener. Please make sure to make your phrasing even stronger and practice technique more on daily basis with click !

Thank you for your take Paiva !

Slammer (7:01 – 7:29)

Sound – A bit distorted with lots of low eq’s boosted. I think you need to put more mid and high EQ’s to make it sound a bit brighter so all notes can come out clean.

Intro – Really nice idea I enjoyed it a lot ! Long bend as question followed by faster line as response. One problem was the phrasing was a bit weaker and sloppy but other than that ideas were awesome. Excellent work!

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I think you need to work most with your phrasing. Sometimes its behind sometimes ahead of the beat. Take metronome and/or backing tracks, write down rhythms that you most commonly use in your solos, and start practicing different melodic ideas with them. Record yourself , post it on forum and I can help you from there. The idea is to be in the center of the beat not around. When you have firm control of keeping time then you can go around and do polyrhythms anywhere !

Development/melodic shapes – Development was definitely there along with nice melodic shapes, but it didn't reach its full potential because of phrasing weakness. If I overlook the phrasing problem, this was actually really well approached and done!

Techniques – Strong technique control apart from part at 7:22! Sounds like unwanted noise and/or missed notes. Pay closer attention to that when recording.

Outro/ending – Very strong ending I like it!

Slammer I have never heard you before so I cannot judge your playing level and comfort based on one 27 seconds solo All the things I said relate to this solo and this solo only but I hope to see you in future collaborations so we can compare improvement rate between that one and this one!

Thank you for your take Slammer !

Smells (7:29 – 7: 57)

Sound – Awesome distortion! All the notes are clean and you picked very good effect for your style of playing. Excellent work.

Intro – Very raw and energetic intro I like it a lot. Very strong bend with vibrato followed by responding slower paced phrase. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing is almost perfect for most of the time. Towards 2nd part of A min groove you were behind the beat a bit. Time feel is definitely there as you had regular time vs double time with faster legato runs. Good job!

Development/melodic shapes – Great work in development section. Melodic shapes just like with everyone else – could use more expanding!

Techniques – I have to comment in this section on couple of things as I know you will take all advices openly! Your legato in C min section sounded a bit sloppy; some notes were basically missing hence your melodic and rhythmic statement didn’t end up sounding as strong as it should have. Your pedal point melody didn’t sound as strong as it could have as well. Another little thing I noticed was your bend around F#min section is a bit out of pitch… Other than those things you did great job using various techniques and incorporating them with strong phrasing!

Outro/ending – Not very original ending I must say as you could have done something different a bit. Overall it does fit into the contest of the solo , so I won’t take anything of it : )

Overall I like melodic ideas and development in this solo a lot. I think you need to clean up technique just a little bit and it will start to sound very professional in my opinion. Great work Chris, thank you for submitting your take; I hope to see you in next ones as well!

Sondre (7:58 – 8:26)

Sound – Sondre, I like this distorted sound much more than your previous ones. All the notes are clear and it looks like your POD is doing wonders for you. Excellent work. Intro – Chuck Berry style intro; I have to admit I never expected to hear that here – great job, very creative man : )

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I like how you are balanced straight vs syncopated (off beat) rhythms. I have to say phrasing could be a bit stronger in some parts, other than that great work man.

Development/melodic shapes – I like that you used rests and nice rhythms to develop your ideas. One thing is obvious; sounds like you are doing E shape for all minor pentatonics I would like to see at least another shape in some future collaboration from you.

Techniques – Everything is great except the bend at 8:20! Just work more on bends and it will be great.

Outro/ending – I like how your ending phrase started (very strong down beat rhythm) but it ended very weak at the end. You could have ended it at A instead of going extra note to G postponing it etc.

Overall I hear from this solo very encouraging thing. You took one minor pentatonic shape , moved it around and made some music. Shows that you are creative which is great. Another thing that was good trough most of part was your phrasing. I particularly liked how you combined downbeat with upbeat rhythms.

Thank you for your take Sondre !

Tolek (8:25 – 8:53)

Sound – I love your new sound Tolek! You sound like Mike Stern only distortion is missing, Excellent job!

Intro – You were suppose to do pre bar thing but I have to admit you pulled it off great with targeting strong chord tone ending on longer rhythm. Excellent.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Really good job Tolek. Your phrasing has become much stronger now compared to first collaboration you did. Excellent job man keep it up. Nice choice of rhythms, your solo didn’t really need double time feel to it as it was very melodic and greatly developed.

Development/melodic shapes – I love the development in this solo. Your phrasing, Q & A type phrasing, long notes vs short really kept it alive and interesting. Great work man.

Techniques – Everything is smooth until just before you hit F#min section. Something strange starts to happen with your guitar sound – almost as if you were playing slide guitar there : )

Outro/ending – Great idea for ending, however you never resolved it ! I like the odd vs even type rhythm vs melody you did there, but you just had to resolve it and it would have been perfect.

Tolek, I really have nothing to add to your solo except that little technical thing I mentioned. I would to here in future more trough composed solo from you as your Q&A phrasing is starting to come strong together now, so I want to see playing with lines in some future collaboration!

Thank you for your take Tolek!

Toroso (8:54 – 9:22)

Sound – Excellent sound, not too much gain and all the notes come very strong and clean. Excellent Toroso!

Intro – I like it, it starts with slow gradual bend as question and then it responds with faster phrase. Excellent work.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – I only have words of praise for you Toroso in this are ! Last collaboration your phrasing was a bit behind the beat. In this one you have showed already a lot of improvement. Not only that your phrasing is now on the beat, but your melodies now sound more connected and coherent ! Excellent, I am very happy for this improvement man!

Development/melodic shapes – Development is there as you are using very solid Rhythmic combinations for Q&A type of phrasing. Melodic shapes are lacking, but that’s the case for 99% participants as this Is totally new harmony and material for everyone !

Techniques – Nothing to crazy here technique wise, but solo is very melodic which is good. I think one area where you could spend some time would be bending. I suggest you support your bends with as many fingers as you can. When I bend with 2nd finger I use my 1st to support it; when I bend with 3rd I use both 1st and 2nd etc, you get the idea

Outro/ending – The ending sounded strong although I think it would have been perfect if you ended on that F# a bit sooner.

Overall Toroso I am very happy with your improvement. Your phrasing has moved to a new level , your melodies are now doing interaction and everything is sounding more musical. My suggestions for practice routine : bending and double time type rhythm for more variety in solos (triplets, 16th notes, broken rhythms etc). Thank you for your take Toroso and I look forward having you in next one !

Vasilije Vukmirovic (9:22 – 9:50)

Sound – I would have preferred a bit more electric sound or perhaps adding touch of effects to your dry guitar sound ( delay and/or reverb even !). This works as well though

Intro – Excellent example of how to determine sound of mode from very beginning. You also used repetition a lot which kept everything together. I would have preferred to build solo slower perhaps but this works too !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Everything spot on, even time feel and change to double time is very well executed. Great work !

Development/melodic shapes – Q & A type phrasing + repetition with different ending = very strong development. Excellent work, melodic shapes were also very good and good example of what I had in mind to teach in future collaborations!

Techniques – Flawless technique, although your guitar sounds like it has some intonation problems – correct me if I am wrong? Also I didn’t hear almost any vibrato in your playing, sounds a bit static to some extent.

Outro/ending – Smooth jazz type ending, ending on F# as in your face note : ) I like it excellent.

Vasilije since I meet you two months ago and stayed at your place for 2 days, I have to be very careful what I will say here . Just kidding man, you know I will tell you what I like or don’t like always… Your melodic choice was great, from arpeggios, scale sequences, motives even chromatic lines – all very well placed! Your phrasing is also strong , Q&A type melodies are there no doubt so I have nothing to add there. There is some things that could have been better executed in my opinion. One thing that was evident trough solo was Double time to Triple time feel ! Nowhere in the solo you actually went to regular or even better half time feel soloing to calm down solo and create some resolution to your ideas. So I would recommend working more on time feel soloing in future as it will take your playing to whole other level! Another thing I mentioned was sound. When you listen to your take by itself it sound completely dry and there is even humming noise there – is that your guitar pickup, bad cable or something else, I don’t know, but I had to wash it somehow in the mix man : ) Last thing is lack of vibrato… I understand this was fast paced solo but there was 27 seconds to put at least couple of meaningful long notes with vibrato. I would like to hear that from you in future collaborations. Everything else was great and it felt really great to comment on your take as you are both my friend and instructor buddy here at GMC Thank you for submitting your take Vasilije, I look forward seeing you in future collaborations !

Velvet Roger (9:50 – 10:17)

Sound – I like your sound in general but this one was very hard to fit with the overall sound of backing track. EQ’s were too weak, no matter how much I boosted it.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Everything sounds strong except when you are attempting legato; I will discuss that later.

Development/melodic shapes – Great melodic choice along with rhythms. Your development is very well placed, excellent work.

Techniques – Everything is good but legato. That seemed to be weakest link in this solo. I recommend clearing it more up with metronome/backing tracks.

Outro/ending – Good ending but you could have just stayed with opening statement from intro + A on octave , it would have sounded awesome !

Overall very nice melodic ideas in this solo Roger. I enjoyed phrasing trough most part of the solo (except the legato part) but your development is really growing and I like what I am hearing. Since this is new style and unfamiliar I will say good job man, but 6 months to a year from now we should be all nailing this type of backing ( goes for everybody not only for you : ) Thank you for your take Roger! You are subscribed to life for my collabs

wrk (10:18 – 10:45)

Sound – Excellent sound, reminds me a lot of the one I used, is it the same Andy ?

Intro – Beautiful intro, I love it man seriously. You didn’t start immediately, you waited, and when you came in you were slowly building up your ideas with half time feel. Excellent !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Perfect phrasing all the way until the ending part ! Time feel properly applied and used along with corresponding rhythms, excellent work.

Techniques – Your standard type playing, I like it as more and more I listen to it, I start to recognize you from whole bunch of players out there. Excellent Andy.

Outro/ending – Weakest part of solo no doubt and I mean It both melodically and rhythmically. Actually if you choose stronger rhythm and phrasing maybe that repetitive idea would have worked better.

Ok Andy I said many times here Excellent for your solo. What other students might not know is that you submitted your first take which they can all find in upload thread, which was by the way nowhere near in the quality of playing compared to this one. It also shows that you are quick learner, hard worker and talented. Lets not forget that you asked 3557 questions regarding this collab, so my answers probably helped out a bit as well Just kidding man but seriously people need to look up to what you did with this take. In my opinion in future I would like to see more double time phrasing from your and line type trough composed improvising. Don’t worry , we will discuss everything before I publish next collaboration until then you can keep practicing and asking questions.

Thank you for submitting your take wrk (Andy), I look forward having you in next collaboration !

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Phrasing is strong most of the time except with legato (like with most of the participants). Time feel and rhythm choice is evident, I like what you did in this solo.

Development/melodic shapes – Q&A type of phrasing and various melodic shapes (you even included full chords, great job man) made this your strongest point in solo !

Techniques – This was the weakest area. Guitar was out of tune which Is unacceptable when doing session/studio type recordings! Apart from that legato was a bit weak but everything else was strong.

Outro/ending – I don’t know what to think about your ending honestly. Did you run out of ideas for ending or you really felt like mimicking the chords in the background? If second one was the case then great job perfect, if not I am not too happy lol

Overall Donny I enjoyed your solo. Legato was weakest part along with tuning, but everything was pretty much spot on. I think you need to work over last section a bit more (F/G G#dim7 A min) to create more natural melodies in future.

Thank you for submitting your take Zynex (Donny) , I expect you in the next collaboration as well (with guitar in tune if possible ? )

Pedja Simovic (11:14-11:42)

Sound – Fits the backing really well with even EQ’s and interesting delay.

Intro – Short melodic shapes that latter build up (usually 2 or 3 note shapes). Works because of Q&A type of rhythm and melody.

Outro/ending – Same motive repeated up an octave with different ending (motive development).

Overall I am happy how this solo came out but maybe you guys can judge me for a change ?

Thank you all for participating in my first Fusion collaboration. It was pleasure doing this with all of you. From next collaboration things will change a bit as I will introduce many new additions that will help you with your playing, recording, composing and whatever that is that you want to work on. Look forward seeing you in my next collaboration and hope you enjoyed this one.

Great collaborartion guys Well done everybody. Very cool to hear that you guys changing many modes in this one. Pedja is doing a great work here and I am sure everybody can pick priceless stuff from such master.

Overall I am really surprised with your take Dexxter as I never heard you play before and this is your first recording in my collaboration. You definitely nailed the backing track and it didn’t show like you had any difficulty with it. Your phrasing was spot on along with melodic choice , Q&A phrasing was there… Basically you made music with all the devices you had at your disposal. My only recommendation is to practice superimposing and chromatic approaches if you are looking to improve your overall playing in Fusion genre.

Honoured to go first man although I know its done alphabetically, but I'll just pretend you picked me

Thanks for your extensive comments too, I think you summed up my style pretty well! I will definitely look forward to playing a more full passage of note next time, that is a very interesting challenge to me.

Are there some scale shapes that I could learn in advance and try to work into your next collab? Just as an extra challenge?! heh.

My scale shapes are definitely my limiting factor in this type of music. I literally had to follow each chord change with the first pentatonic shape, because I simply haven't learnt the others. I will at the very least, memerise the 5 pentatonic shapes for the next collab. As I'm sure this well help with learning the diatonic shapes and modes for the future.

Thanks a lot pedja for your kind comments, appreciate it man

QUOTE (Pedja Simovic @ Feb 1 2009, 10:55 PM)

First up is Ajmurrell (0:00 - 0:30)

Sound - Very good sound, fits the backing as well as your style of playing. All the notes come out clean which is very important as well.

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm - Your phrasing sounds fairly strong trough out the solo. The reason why this works is because you applied a lot of rests as well as short vs long rhythms (double vs regular time feel). I would like to hear solo from you with constant type playing , with fever rests as comparison for your trough composed playing.

Development/melodic shapes - Great job with developing the solo using Question answer phrasing + rests. Melodic shapes are mostly straight and predictable - melody goes up , melody comes down , scale motion . Practice with different melodic shapes soloing and see what that can do to your soloing and composing skills.

Technique - Everything you needed in this solo you covered technically. Good job.

Outro/ending - Very good ending . Sounds like intro a bit and you managed to pull it off with that rest you used just before playing the phrase.

Overall I am very happy with your solo Adam. Question and Answer phrasing with Rests was applied trough out solo which made everything click together. I would advise you to work on your melodic shapes more in future as well as bending to some extent. In future I would like to hear trough composed playing from you as you seem to have solid control over applying rests in solos.

I just have one thing to add, I always felt like jazzy solos have some kind of stuccato feeling on them, and I played stuccato intentionaly. But if you think that sounds odd, I will break that newly forming habbit You are totally right about technical aspects of my playing, I am well aware of that and I am working to eradicate that continously. Thank you again and again, your pointing the right direction helped me alot on achieving your kind words about my musicality. So I cant take all the credit!

I remember you that I got a lifetime admission ticket for all your collabs in the future!

Thanks for the comments Pedja they were really on place. I agree there was no melodic structure in the solo as I recorded it a bit fast and with no prior analysis of the backing. Nice job on the collab buddy, and will try to keep the standards as high as possible, as always!

Thanks for the critique Pedja, very helpful. I am really going to try and work on my sound for future collabs. I know for this collab I only had about 2 days to compose and practice the take so I really didn't have as much time to clean it up as much as I would have liked. The tapping lick especially was quite sloppy when I listen back to it. I learned a new Steve Vai tapping lick where he uses his ring and middle finger to facilitate string skips and I am not as adept at it as I would like to be but I really wanted to try and work it in to the solo somehow and that is the best I could do with the time I had. You said my I had weird not choice over the G# dim7 chord. I played a D maj arpeggio over that which I thought would give it a G# dim9 sound, superimposing I think you call it. Am I wrong here?

I really enjoyed this collab as it really forced me to think about the chord changes and what I was playing. I will work hard on what you suggested and I am really looking forward to your next collab. I think between this collab and Emirs my musicality has gone to another level and I am really happy about that. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my take and give me some constructive criticism!! Much appreciated.

Could you give me some more pointers towards the sound (although from now on I will use a different system (UX2), as I am continuously struggling with that it seems?

Will certainly work on the legato, in fact I have yesterday started a practice routine covering legato, vibrato, sweep picking, scales/modes/sliding shapes and 2h tapping to be done every single day until I get things right.

No problem with the comments Pedja thank you for your advices and your spot on with technique issues, have to admit, I actually had quite a hard time with this chord progression, being a rock guy I very rarely come up against this type of progression, which I totally agree with you that the back end of my solo was weak, will certainly be loking at your next collab for sure, thak you again for all your helpful advice

Thank you for checking it out Emir. There were some very good takes in this one and overall I am pleased how everybody's first Fusion experience turned out to be. In future it will just keep sounding better and stronger in my opinion.

@ Dexxter

Thats the beauty of comments - you never know what to expect Seriously you did great job, you should be proud of yourself but don't fly too high as you need to practice on things I mentioned. Superimposing is a term used to describe when you play something else over something (in very basic terms thats what it means In this case, when you have A minor, superimposing would be playing C maj arp (gives A min7 sound) , E min arp (gives A min9 sound) , G maj arp (gives A min 11 sound) and B min arp (gives A min 13 sound dorian or melodic minor sound). So you basically play anything but regular A minor over A minor and you got super imposing happening in a way. I will get to this in next collaboration don't worry for time being

@ audiopaal

You welcome Paal. I didn't know what to expect from your take, but I was positively shocked I must admit Look forward having you in next one !

@ Sergio Dorado

Thanks Sergio and I agree with you - some very creative ideas there !

@ Berko

You welcome Berko ! It was pleasure to have you in this one as with everybody; I was very excited to see how you guys would respond to such a backing track. I think it is safe to say that you all got at least a passing grade in this one.

Your lifetime-long admittance has just been approved

@ Ivan Milenkovic

Thank you Ivan ! Glad you took the comments right way man. @ Ajmurrell

Yeah Adam, I like you the best thats why you were first In alphabetical order everything goes as usual. I don't plan to favor any of you guys over anyone - we are all equal regardless of level, and everybody needs to work on certain things !

My suggestion is to take CAGED system 5 shapes for minor pentatonic and try doing solos with them over the same backing track. That should be enough of a challenge already !

Stay tuned for next collaboration , it will definitely help with things you mentioned !

@ enforcer

Great Can! I am sure you will correct technical issue mentioned, other than that you are great player and I feel you will develop even more in future. I wrote you down on my wall for lifetime long admission for all collabs @ lcsdds

Monte, You did great with the fact you had only 48 hours to compose and record your solo. In that sense I am very proud of you man. All the comments are general and are applying for future playing and recording. I think you are perfectionist of a sort and you will go long way in my opinion.

Regarding G# dim7... D major can come from A Melodic minor , but G# dim 7 comes from A Harmonic minor ! So thats where things went wrong. G# B D F = Gdim 7 or E7b9 (without E) ; D F# A = b5 b7! b9 !!! I think D minor would have been more key related if you wanted to superimpose over G# dim7. I like your thinking and creativity though , keep doing great work.

I am glad you took comments right way and I look forward seeing you in next collab !@ coffeeman

I agree Andru, some very good takes in this one. I count your take to be in that group. The fact that you improvised it shows that your playing and whole structure of solo has improved a lot from your first collaboration !

I am even more excited about your take now then I was last night (had a feeling you composed it thats why

Thanks Andru, I will count you in for next one

@ Slammer

You welcome Slammer. I did not know you had to use mic to record your sound. Thats a whole different story then as it takes a lot of setting up to get really good sound when recording with mics (type of mic, angles, noise in the room, acoustics distance from amp etc).

Thank you for your take, I will hopefully see you in next one !

@ Velvet Roger

Hey Roger, you welcome man

Your previous sounds were stronger and came over the top more than this one. Whenever the sound is weak, you can boost some Mid and Low EQ's and it will give it more warmth and fullness. Another thing that helps is Delay and/or Reverb. If you set that up nicely it will add depth to the sound.

I hope that helps man.

See you in next one

@ Zynex

You welcome Donny I knew you had intention to mimick the ending , was just joking around with you

I remember you mentioned having that issue, but in future try to find time for it somehow

Thanks Donny and see you in next one !@ Smells

Glad you took the comments right way Chris. It will be great to have you in future collabs man! I am expecting your final mix next couple of days for instructor collaboration, so I can get to comments to that as well

Thank you so much for this awesome collab, the final mix and comments Pedja So many good and inspiring takes from every member and instructor. Congratulations to everyone.

QUOTE (Pedja Simovic @ Feb 1 2009, 11:55 PM)

Sound – Excellent sound, reminds me a lot of the one I used, is it the same Andy ?

.. i hacked into your POD

QUOTE (Pedja Simovic @ Feb 1 2009, 11:55 PM)

Techniques – Your standard type playing, I like it as more and more I listen to it, I start to recognize you from whole bunch of players out there. Excellent Andy.

Fancy monster licks are not my type i guess . I have played way too long stuff which are beyond my skills, so i try to make everything more simple and more clean with control and continue from there. If i start to develop my own sound with this approach then this is the biggest compliment you can give to me. Thanks Pedja !

QUOTE (Pedja Simovic @ Feb 1 2009, 11:55 PM)

Outro/ending – Weakest part of solo no doubt and I mean It both melodically and rhythmically. Actually if you choose stronger rhythm and phrasing maybe that repetitive idea would have worked better.

Surely true. The chord changes at the end were the real challenge in this collab and i have had a lot of difficulties with them. I was not satisfied with my ideas ether. I wanted to upload a 3rd take, but didn't managed to improve this part. For private studies i continue to working on it. Personally i failed my own goals on these chords as my focus was on this part, but i have started and it just need more time.

QUOTE (Pedja Simovic @ Feb 1 2009, 11:55 PM)

Ok Andy I said many times here Excellent for your solo. What other students might not know is that you submitted your first take which they can all find in upload thread, which was by the way nowhere near in the quality of playing compared to this one. It also shows that you are quick learner, hard worker and talented. Lets not forget that you asked 3557 questions regarding this collab, so my answers probably helped out a bit as well Just kidding man but seriously people need to look up to what you did with this take. In my opinion in future I would like to see more double time phrasing from your and line type trough composed improvising. Don’t worry , we will discuss everything before I publish next collaboration until then you can keep practicing and asking questions.

For the first take, i tried to get ideas on my own and didn't listened to David's or your take before. For the second take i have studied the sound you created in your example takes and that inspired me to try something else. On my own i wouldn't have come up with this idea. I have to develop my ears to hear melodies of this type.No doubt, i asked a lot of questions ... i feel like a parasite by now , sorry, but i learned so much from your effords .. i hope it is somehow rewarding for you to know that you are an awesome instructor . I never got my feed into this style and i saw my chance in this collab. Quick learner? Hm, don't know, i really spend a lot of hours to try things out ... for a progression of just 12 bars . You have put some pressure on me and it helped me lot to get out of my comfortable field and really studie each chord.

Double time phrasing, type through improvisation, .. don't really know what that means, but it sounds interesting . I would love to learn more about this. Maybe in your upcoming lesson series(?)

You are my ticket to finally add some jazz to my playing. I hope you will continue to do similar collaborations.Thank you Pedja!

Sound – I love your new sound Tolek! You sound like Mike Stern only distortion is missing, Excellent job!

You wanna have the preset?

QUOTE

Phrasing/time feel/rhythm – Really good job Tolek. Your phrasing has become much stronger now compared to first collaboration you did. Excellent job man keep it up. Nice choice of rhythms, your solo didn’t really need double time feel to it as it was very melodic and greatly developed.

What do you mean by double time? Playing double as fast as before?

QUOTE

Techniques – Everything is smooth until just before you hit F#min section. Something strange starts to happen with your guitar sound – almost as if you were playing slide guitar there

Slide guitar? ... I think the sound changes because I don´t play long notes anymore, I started using short notes in a short period of time.

QUOTE

Outro/ending – Great idea for ending, however you never resolved it ! I like the odd vs even type rhythm vs melody you did there, but you just had to resolve it and it would have been perfect.

I didn´t resolve it because I didn´t want to sound like an ending, I wanted to create a transition to the next participant.

QUOTE

Tolek, I really have nothing to add to your solo except that little technical thing I mentioned. I would to here in future more trough composed solo from you as your Q&A phrasing is starting to come strong together now, so I want to see playing with lines in some future collaboration!